Club News

Jackas fall at the first hurdle

Maccabi’s successful season has come to an abrupt end, after being comprehensively beaten at the hands of Malvern by 73 runs on Sunday.

The loss ends a promising year for the side, who finished 2nd on the ladder and played in their first finals series since 2014.

Malvern elected to bat first in ideal batting conditions at Righetti Oval, and immediately went after opening bowlers Josh Jones (0-30) and Bailey Melzak (0-34).

An early change in the bowling proved successful for Maccabi, as Mark Soffer (2-29) broke the 34-run opening stand in the 7th over.

The wicket failed to slow Malvern’s momentum, with runs flowing freely for the batting side. Benji Jones (1-21) brought himself on to bowl and claimed an important thanks to a brilliant catch in the deep by his brother Josh.

Benji Gore (1-25) has only be used sparingly this season with the ball but proved to be Maccabi’s best bowler on the day in an economical spell of bowling.

A number of half chances went down in the field including a sharp catch that resulted in Ben Machlin breaking a finger which required surgery and left him unable to bat.
A tight finish to the innings left Maccabi to chase an achievable target of 189 for victory.

Mark Soffer (31) and Benji Jones (21) recovered from the early loss of Shmuli Rosenbaum (3) and looked to be in control of the chase at 1-48 before Soffer was run out.

Josh Jones (9) and Charlie Gross (7) made starts in the middle order but were unable to go on with it.

Benji Gore (24) and Jacob Jones (10) started to generate some momentum for their side, but the match appeared over when Jones was run out by a remarkable direct hit from the deep.